The Philadelphia Flyers don’t have the luxury of drifting into the Olympic break. With two games left before the pause, including Tuesday’s home matchup against the Capitals, this stretch is less about standings math and more about how they play, how they manage momentum, and whether the habits they’ve been trying to rebuild actually hold when fatigue and uncertainty creep in.
This game sits in that uncomfortable in-between space, very much a tell game—a chance to show that the lessons from a turbulent January and early February are sticking.
1. Dan Vladar Starts in Net.
Dan Vladar gets the start as he prepares to represent Czechia at the Olympic Games. With Sam Ersson still being out day-to-day with a lower-body injury, Vladar’s role here is specific: give the Flyers a steady baseline while they focus on cleaning up the game in front of him.
The Capitals are not overwhelming offensively, but they are physical and opportunistic, particularly when games slow down and structure breaks. For a Flyers team that has spent too many first periods chasing games, defense coming out the gate strong and goaltenders being able to establish a rhythm is paramount.
2. Lines Continue to Shuffle.
Rick Tocchet’s lineup decisions are increasingly transparent in intent. Carl Grundstrom comes in for Garnet Hathaway, with Tocchet reasoning that Grundstrom's pace and scoring ability can be a good foil for the Caps' physicality.
More telling are the lines Tocchet confirmed he wants to run.
Matvei Michkov with Noah Cates and Bobby Brink is about balance. Cates provides structure and defensive conscience, Brink does the connective work along the walls, and Michkov is free to create without carrying the entire line’s responsibility. It’s a trio designed to keep the puck in the right areas and let skill emerge organically.
The Barkey–Zegras–Tippett line is more experimental—and more revealing. Tocchet is continuing to give Trevor Zegras reps at center, not because it’s a short-term fix, but because the organization needs to know what it has there. Barkey’s pace and retrieval ability insulate Zegras defensively, while Tippett gives the line a north-south threat that can turn possession into immediate danger.
Denver Barkey (52). (Megan DeRuchie-The Hockey News)3. Young Skill, Shared Responsibility.
One of the consistent threads in Tocchet’s recent comments has been the fine line young teams walk between confidence and hesitation. He was clear that the Flyers aren’t shrinking, but thinking.
“I think sometimes you make some coverage mistakes or you make a mistake,” Tocchet said Tuesday morning. “It’s not like we’re fragile to the point where nobody wants the puck, but there are some situations where you want somebody to take control. And sometimes young guys don’t want to make a mistake… So I think it’s more reads and things like that.”
Against the Kings, the Flyers struggled in the first period because they weren’t executing fundamentals—poor spacing, soft reads, pucks forced through the middle. In the second and third, once they simplified, the game turned more in their favor.
Washington will test that again. The Capitals thrive on cluttering the neutral zone and waiting for teams to beat themselves. If the Flyers hesitate or overhandle, they’ll spend the night chasing. If they commit to clean exits, speed through layers, and support the puck, the matchup tilts back toward them.
4. Fundamentals as the Non-Negotiable.
Tocchet has been blunt about what separates the Flyers’ good periods from their bad ones: fundamentals.
He pointed directly to the Kings game as an example, where the first period lacked structure and the rest of the game looked entirely different once the basics returned.
Against Washington, the checklist is simple but demanding: clean breakouts, disciplined gaps, layers in the defensive zone, and forecheck pressure that arrives in sequence.
5. Playing Toward the Break.
The Flyers want to go into the Olympic break on a high note. They're not about banking points as much as they need to be about banking habits. A strong performance here—especially one that looks organized from puck drop—would validate the adjustments they’ve been making over the last few weeks.
It would also reinforce something this team is still learning: that consistency isn’t a mood, it’s a discipline. The Flyers have shown they can skate with good teams. The next step is showing they can arrive ready, play clean for 60 minutes, and avoid needing mid-game corrections to look like themselves.
Projected Lines
Philadelphia Flyers
Forwards:
Nikita Grebenkin - Christian Dvorak - Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey - Trevor Zegras - Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov - Noah Cates - Bobby Brink
Nic Deslauriers - Sean Couturier - Carl Grundstrom
Defense:
Travis Sanheim - Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York - Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler - Noah Juulsen
Goalies:
Dan Vladar
Aleksei Kolosov
Washington Capitals
Forwards:
Anthony Beauvillier - Dylan Strome - Alex Ovechkin
Aliaksei Protas - Justin Sourdif - Tom Wilson
Ryan Leonard - Nic Dowd - Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime - Hendrix Lapierre - Sonny Milano
Defense:
Martin Fehervary - John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun - Matt Roy
Rasmus Sandin - Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Goalies:
Garin Bjorklund
Clay Stevenson